The Presidential Daily Brief

intriguing

The Power of Telling Your Own Story

The Internet wept at Ariel Levy’s shattering New Yorker essay on motherhood and loss, published online and in the print magazine this week. Levy suffered a rare disorder in pregnancy and lost her baby, alone in a hotel in Ulaanbaatar. Her decision to write about the experience raises questions about the power of the first-person narrative, particularly in regard to traditionally taboo topics, such as pregnancy failure. Writing a first-person account, as kidnapping victim Elizabeth Smart did earlier this year, may shield victims of tragedy from the sensationalism of many media outlets and allow us to hear the version of events that really matters.